- Christie’s rental staging partner Hexogon Solution has ignited the Christmas spirit by delivering spectacular visuals for the official lighting up ceremony of the “Christmasland in New Taipei City” event on November 19.
Christmasland Lit Up
The projection mapping performances, which runs nightly until January 2, 2017, are planned and executed by Hexogon Solution using a total of 42 Christie Boxer 4K30 3DLP projectors. A slew of bright and vibrant visuals depicting Christmas adventures of the beloved Santa Bear and Fang Tou Bear family project onto the façade of the 30-storey New Taipei City Hall building in Banqiao District, as well as a fascinating 360-degree projection on a 36-meter-high cone-shaped Christmas tree in front of the building. Not only does this mark the debut of Boxer 4K30s for a major event in Taiwan, it is also the biggest ever projection mapping performance to be held here – with a projection area of 5,239 square meters.
“We are immensely honored to be given this opportunity to create this visual spectacular for the New Taipei City Government, by deploying 33 Boxer 4K30s for projections on the building’s surface and nine projectors for mapping around the cone-shaped Christmas tree," said Adrian Goh, Group Managing and Artistic Director, Hexogon Solution. "Our objective is to create a world-class performance for the enjoyment of Taiwanese spectators during this festive period. At the same time, we wish to set the standard of what it takes to deliver a good projection mapping show in terms of technology, brightness and image quality in Taiwan.”
According to Goh, preparations for this event commenced in June with the design of projection mapping contents, which were created completely in-house by the Hexogon team.
“For this performance, we worked towards achieving contents with a more three-dimensional approach," said Goh. "The specified characters were created in 3D, rather than using 2D animation that was done previously. The setting also involved a lot of optical illusion techniques, by conducting many rounds of simulations with mapping to bring the environment to life.”
The Hexogon team worked round the clock to meet the short timelines and to overcome the unpredictable on-site weather conditions, as the nightly performances have to continue regardless of the weather. Tapping on the valuable experience gathered during its involvement in Singapore’s National Day Parades, the Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix, as well as last year’s South East Asian sporting event, which set a new Guinness World Records title for the light output in a projected image, the Hexogon team successfully overcame the challenges to complete the setup in a week's time.
“We developed our own enclosures that allow alignment and even the actual show to run under extreme weather conditions," added Goh. "With proper exhaust, cooling system and optical glass front case specially customized for this event, we are able to extend the heat tolerance of the Boxer 4K30 projectors to better manage the performances."
The result is a Christmas extravaganza that spread the holiday cheer and Christmas fun for both the young and old. Featuring a series of exciting events from county fairs and large concerts to markets selling handmade goods and carnival parades, the “Christmasland in New Taipei City” event is one of the most popular hangouts during the Christmas season, as it embodies a joyful and celebratory atmosphere.
“We’re pleased with the performance of the Boxer 4K30s and are also delighted to accomplish our objective of delivering the biggest projection mapping performance in Taiwan," said Goh. "The client is also happy that whatever we suggested has all been fulfilled and proven correct. Hopefully this will set a new standard and customers’ expectation for future shows in Taiwan."
